Detweiler Vision vs Beowulf Code: "Right" and "Wrong"

JohnRoth wrote:You can't miss that tail, and you don't even need the center-embedded clause to explain where it came from.

Actually, you do need the clause. There is always the possibility of a character or ancestor voluntarily making such extreme body mods because of some kink.

There are people around today that would jump at the chance to become a real "furry" if it were possible; they already invest in plastic surgery and tattoos to come as close as they can.

Weird Harold wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:You can't miss that tail, and you don't even need the center-embedded clause to explain where it came from.

Actually, you do need the clause. There is always the possibility of a character or ancestor voluntarily making such extreme body mods because of some kink.

There are people around today that would jump at the chance to become a real "furry" if it were possible; they already invest in plastic surgery and tattoos to come as close as they can.

That is the price to pay for miscreant geneticists. If the darkness of the Detweiler dream is allowed to see the light of day, then humanity will be unrecognizable in a few centuries.

Psychopathic sociopaths and sociopathic psychopaths have no real grasp of the ramifications of their insanity.

Such a tail could be a cybernetic mod. Hell, add a autotargeting pulsar in it for emergencies and/or sudden acts of treachery.

Anyway her ancestor was a slave, not a star line. They seem to keep star lines pretty human. Seriously, Treecat Chimera. Just do it already!

Weird Harold wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:You can't miss that tail, and you don't even need the center-embedded clause to explain where it came from.

Actually, you do need the clause. There is always the possibility of a character or ancestor voluntarily making such extreme body mods because of some kink.

I should probably have been more specific. The point I was trying to make is that, in a story, it's much easier to show someone has a gene mod if it's immediately visible. The fact that Virginia Usher is a Mesan genetic slave from a sex slave line isn't immediately obvious - you have to either be told or infer it from her behavior, and her behavior, while highly suggestive, is also highly ambiguous.

It is immediately obvious that Lt. Blake has a genetic mod, and there is only one place that mod could come from in the Honorverse. That is the way RFC has designed it.

Weird Harold wrote:There are people around today that would jump at the chance to become a real "furry" if it were possible; they already invest in plastic surgery and tattoos to come as close as they can.

Yep. they are not, however, living in the Honorverse.

quite possibly a cat wrote:Such a tail could be a cybernetic mod. Hell, add a autotargeting pulsar in it for emergencies and/or sudden acts of treachery.

Anyway her ancestor was a slave, not a star line. They seem to keep star lines pretty human. Seriously, Treecat Chimera. Just do it already!

According to RFC, there is a planet, or possibly a cluster of planets, where that kind of cyborg modification is common. It doesn't show up in the story, though.

However. Imagine what would happen if she showed up at Saganami Island with it. "You're out of uniform! Use it or leave!"

JohnRoth wrote:

quite possibly a cat wrote:Such a tail could be a cybernetic mod. Hell, add a autotargeting pulsar in it for emergencies and/or sudden acts of treachery.

Anyway her ancestor was a slave, not a star line. They seem to keep star lines pretty human. Seriously, Treecat Chimera. Just do it already!

According to RFC, there is a planet, or possibly a cluster of planets, where that kind of cyborg modification is common. It doesn't show up in the story, though.

However. Imagine what would happen if she showed up at Saganami Island with it. "You're out of uniform! Use it or leave!"

I would be surprised if it was a cybernetic mod. Remember, Honor's eye and limb is cybernetic and she had to learn to use them. There is no reason the movement of a cybernetic tail cannot be learned. However, it wouldn't be good for her to be in the middle of a moving sexual experience, lost control of the appendage and... oops. I suppose it could be deactivated. Then again, the passage did say, "carefully wrapped about her." It was a prehensile tail -- meaning it could grasp things.

At any rate, it would probably come in hand-y in the RMN. LOL

On another note, the cat-like appearance of Sying-ni bonded with a treecat would strike an imposing duo. I wonder if the cat DNA would result in positive aspects to the bond surpassing even Honor and Nimitz.

cthia wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:
According to RFC, there is a planet, or possibly a cluster of planets, where that kind of cyborg modification is common. It doesn't show up in the story, though.

However. Imagine what would happen if she showed up at Saganami Island with it. "You're out of uniform! Use it or leave!"

I would be surprised if it was a cybernetic mod. Remember, Honor's eye and limb is cybernetic and she had to learn to use them. There is no reason the movement of a cybernetic tail cannot be learned. However, it wouldn't be good for her to be in the middle of a moving sexual experience, lost control of the appendage and... oops. I suppose it could be deactivated. Then again, the passage did say, "carefully wrapped about her." It was a prehensile tail -- meaning it could grasp things.

At any rate, it would probably come in hand-y in the RMN. LOL

On another note, the cat-like appearance of Sying-ni bonded with a treecat would strike an imposing duo. I wonder if the cat DNA would result in positive aspects to the bond surpassing even Honor and Nimitz.

It is unlikely that a real lot of genes were responsible for Sying-ni's appearance. We're already moving a couple of genes in plant genetics from one species to another. A major change would probably really not work.

In a few cases, like horses and donkeys for mules, you get sterile offspring.

Everyone keeps pushing the idea of crazy modifications, yet what we've seen for Harahap is mostly medical and might not be genetic at all. It was added on when he became an agent...would those things be passed on?

That would be dubious when you consider how valuable some of those things would be to the whole population.

And aside from looks, the Manpower folks are still within human characteristics. Arai may be large but that hasn't stopped Berry in terms of their relationship.

JohnRoth wrote:

quite possibly a cat wrote:Such a tail could be a cybernetic mod. Hell, add a autotargeting pulsar in it for emergencies and/or sudden acts of treachery.

Anyway her ancestor was a slave, not a star line. They seem to keep star lines pretty human. Seriously, Treecat Chimera. Just do it already!

According to RFC, there is a planet, or possibly a cluster of planets, where that kind of cyborg modification is common. It doesn't show up in the story, though.

However. Imagine what would happen if she showed up at Saganami Island with it. "You're out of uniform! Use it or leave!"

There is, it's mentioned in AoV (IIRC) HH is musing over New arm.

All of Harlap's mods seem to be more medical than genetic. They added things to him even if it was changing some of his tissues.
The Officers with feline physical characteristics and that prehensile tail appear to be true genetic modifications. These things have been passed along through at least one generation (probably more) and any children of these people are probably going to be carrying the genes nessisary to express the even if they don't show up in the next generation. It's called "breeding true". The genetics were modified at a very base level such that the genes needed to cause these characteristics are going to pass to the next generation and are probably tweeked such that they will be dominant (as opposed to recessive) like Honor's Myerdal mods.
It truly does take a lot of things combining to make any given characteristic show up. That's why all that stuff having to both pass to offspring AND all the correct "switches" turn (or do not turn) on to create X result.

Brigade XO wrote:All of Harlap's mods seem to be more medical than genetic. They added things to him even if it was changing some of his tissues.
The Officers with feline physical characteristics and that prehensile tail appear to be true genetic modifications. These things have been passed along through at least one generation (probably more) and any children of these people are probably going to be carrying the genes nessisary to express the even if they don't show up in the next generation. It's called "breeding true". The genetics were modified at a very base level such that the genes needed to cause these characteristics are going to pass to the next generation and are probably tweeked such that they will be dominant (as opposed to recessive) like Honor's Myerdal mods.
It truly does take a lot of things combining to make any given characteristic show up. That's why all that stuff having to both pass to offspring AND all the correct "switches" turn (or do not turn) on to create X result.

That's the problem with the good vs. bad elements. Some of the "bad" ones can be good ones in some circumstances and I would bet over time a real lot of the bad would be incorporated by those following the Beowulf tradition.

We just have not seen many really wild changes. There are Harahap's medicals and a real lot of cosmetic stuff but not all that much wild and crazy Maybe RFC will include some of the upcoming book so we'll get a better idea.